Chapter One: Octavia's Date With Vinyl
Octavia looked at herself in the mirror and sighed. She was currently putting on her new bowtie – or at least attempting to. Every time she thought she was finished, she would find that she had done it up too tight, or too loose, or that it was hanging crookedly. The annoying thing was that she knew why she couldn’t complete this simple task – her mind just wasn’t focusing on it enough. Instead, her imagination kept drifting away to something completely different – to her housemate, and potential lover, Vinyl Scratch.
Octavia gave up on the bowtie, and instead allowed her mind to continue to think about Vinyl, as she had found herself doing more and more often the past few weeks. It was strange how their feelings for each other had come out of nowhere.
Well, that wasn’t entirely true – thinking back over the time she and Vinyl had spent together since they first met one another, Octavia could in retrospect see some fairly obvious signs. There was the time that they had gone out drinking and she had invited Vinyl into her bed for cuddling, there was the time in which the two supposedly straight mares had resorted to kissing each other to hide from some pirates, and there was the time, just a few weeks ago, when Octavia had won a swordfight in order to save Vinyl Scratch from the leader of a ninja clan. I think I just like the idea of our feelings for one another coming from nowhere because it feels strange to think that we’ve had feelings for one another all of this time, Octavia mused.
Octavia’s thoughts were interrupted a moment later by a knock on her bedroom door. “Yo, Octavia! You ready for the date yet?” a cheerful voice asked. Octavia swallowed. She had completely lost track of the amount of time that had passed.
“J-just a moment, Vinyl!” she replied. “I’m nearly finished!” Octavia spent a few seconds hastily trying to get the stubborn bowtie to sit straight before giving up and ripping it off her neck. She opened her bedroom door to find that the unicorn had already wandered off somewhere. “Where are you, Vinyl?” Octavia called out, looking down the corridor.
“In the kitchen!” Vinyl answered. Octavia quickly trotted in the direction of her voice, finding her exactly where she said she would be.
“I’m sorry I took so long,” Octavia started, “I was –”
“No stress,” interrupted Vinyl cheerfully, “it’s not like I’m in any hurry. You want the date now?”
“Of course I do, Vinyl, I – wait, what do you mean the date?” Octavia asked, frowning. “You’ve got plenty there!” True enough, in front of Vinyl were many dates, all chopped up neatly for consumption.
“Hey, when I said I’d make lunch for us, I didn’t say how much I was making for each of us, did I?” Vinyl asked, grinning.
Octavia rolled her eyes. “Ha, ha, Vinyl. Now are we going to have lunch or not?” Somewhere in the back of her mind, she noticed that the unicorn had a calming effect on her.
“Yeah, of course,” said Vinyl, dividing the dates up onto two separate plates. The two mares took the plates to the table and ate in silence for a few minutes.
“Sooo…” began Octavia slowly in an attempt to start conversation, “how is your…music….going lately?” She struggled to think of something to talk about – she was finding it awkward to be around Vinyl more and more these days. She simply didn’t know how she should act around Vinyl, particularly when the unicorn could switch from her usual laidback attitude to tense and awkward seemingly in a heartbeat.
“Uh, yeah…” Vinyl answered, almost hesitantly. “It’s going…well?”
“Oh,” said Octavia. “That’s good.” Silence fell once more, until Vinyl broke it.
“You got any plans for tonight?” she asked.
“None at all,” Octavia asked, looking to her lunch rather than her housemate.
“Cool. You, uh, want to go on that date we were talking about?”
Octavia’s head shot up. Well, that certainly came out of nowhere, she thought. “Um, sure,” she replied. Her heart had started beating faster upon Vinyl bringing up the topic the duo had been ignoring for weeks. “What did you have in mind?”
Slowly easing up, Vinyl said, “Well, there’s this really sick club that I – hey, what’s with that face?”
“Really, Vinyl?” Octavia asked, an expression of distaste evident on her face. “A club? For a date?”
“Well, the fact that I sometimes DJ there and get a discount may have had something to do with it,” Vinyl said, a grin slowly spreading on her face. “But honestly, why not? It’s got booze, good music – hay, we can even dance together if you want!”
“I was hoping for something a little more… romantic,” Octavia said, hoping that Vinyl hadn’t noticed the slight voice crack she had on the last word. “Such as a nice restaurant, perhaps.”
Vinyl scoffed. “Yeah, that’ll be fun,” she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. “We can sit around waiting for overpriced food that doesn’t even taste that good, and then get funny looks from all the snobs when it turns out that we’re eating it wrong. That’s totally romantic.”
“Well it’s damn well better than a club!” Octavia snapped. “We’ll barely be able to hear each other over that deafening drone some call music, we’ll both inevitably be hit on by arrogant stallions, and you’ll end up getting drunk and I’ll have to carry you back home!”
Rather than arguing, Vinyl decided to try whining. “But Octaviaaaa! I really really don’t want to go to some expensive restaurant!”
Octavia sighed and pressed a hoof to her eyes. “And I’d rather not go to a club. I can guarantee that I for one won’t enjoy myself there.” She paused before adding, “I merely wish to have a nice time with you.” Once more, the room went silent.
“Weeellll…” said Vinyl as a thought occurred to her, “we could, y’know, compromise.”
“…How so?” Octavia asked as she wondered what Vinyl could have in mind.
“When we first asked each other out, we originally said we were going to go on two dates, remember?” Vinyl pointed out. “What’s stopping us from doing that?”
Octavia went over the idea in her head, trying to see how Vinyl was inevitably benefitting more from the suggestion. “So, you take me out to the club…” she began.
“…and you can take me on a date to a – urgh, restaurant,” Vinyl finished. She finished the last of her dates, and got up from the table. “You cool with it?”
Octavia shrugged. “I cannot think of anything better,” she said. “When shall we go on these dates?”
“Oh, didn’t you hear me before?” Vinyl asked mischievously as she made her way over to Octavia. “I’m gonna take you out clubbing tonight, and we’re gonna have a damn good time.” Vinyl’s tail brushed Octavia’s legs as she leant into Octavia’s neck. “And you are gonna love it,” she whispered, before giving Octavia a quick kiss on the neck.
As Vinyl walked away from Octavia, the Earth pony noticed two things – firstly, that she was suddenly blushing, and secondly, that going out to a club suddenly didn’t sound that bad.
==============
Of course, by the time Vinyl and Octavia entered the club, Octavia was already questioning how in Equestria she could have had such a thought. The music was loud enough to be deafening, there were so many ponies that the two mares could barely move from the entrance, let alone across the dance floor and to the tables, and they had barely been in there for a minute before somepony who had had a bit too much to drink spilled his drink on Vinyl.
“Oh man!” Vinyl exclaimed, shooting the offending stallion a dirty look. “Can you believe this?”
Octavia shook her head. “I understand that it was an accident,” she shouted over the music, “but ponies who are that drunk should be thrown out.”
“What?” Vinyl asked, confused. The two ponies were slowly forcing their way through the crowd and to a table that was miraculously empty. “Oh, I’m not pissed that he spilled his drink on me. I’ve done that to ponies plenty of times!”
“Oh? Then what are you annoyed about?” Octavia asked, trying to follow. This was her first time in a club and to her, things like Vinyl’s behaviour felt strange and confusing.
“Oh, I was pissed off at the beer he had in that thing,” Vinyl shouted as she sat down at the table. “Who the hay drinks pissweak crap like that?”
“Right, the beer he had…” Octavia chose to nod rather than to question Vinyl’s reasoning. She blankly stared into the crowd, not sure what to do now that she was at the table. Should she be dancing to the music with Vinyl? Octavia’s gaze wandered to Vinyl, hoping to follow the experienced clubber’s lead in what to do. To her slight surprise, she found Vinyl resting her head on her hooves and grinning at her. “Um… is anything the matter, Vinyl?” she asked after a few moments.
“What? Nah, nah, it’s just… I’m so happy!” the unicorn replied. “I mean… I’d be happy enough just because I managed to drag you to a club, but the fact that we’re here on a date is just so much, like cooler, y’know? ‘Cos being with you is just…yeah!”
“Uh, thank you?” Octavia asked, confused.
“Sorry it’s just…I’m so happy to be here with you!” Vinyl exclaimed, grabbing a hoof of Octavia’s that was resting on the table and giving it a small squeeze. Still grinning, she got up from the table, and said, “I’ll go get us drinks, okay?”
Octavia smiled as she watched Vinyl go through the crowd and to the bar. Seeing the unicorn so happy put a small smile on her face. Looking around the club, Octavia thought to herself, It isn’t really that bad here; it is merely too loud and the music is not to my taste. After all, it wasn’t like anything horrible had happened, nor was it going to.
Vinyl came back a few minutes later with the drinks she had promised. “Here, I got you some vodka and orange juice!” she shouted.
Octavia cocked her head, not having heard Vinyl properly. Did… did she just buy me some orange juice? That was thoughtful of her; I would not have expected a place such as this to serve non-alcoholic drinks, she thought. She gave her thanks and accepted the drink as Vinyl passed it to her.
“I don’t recommend drinking it quickly.” Vinyl found herself yelling more and more – the music was louder at this table compared to before. “They put a bit more vodka in there than they- wait, what are you doing? I said don’t drink it quickly!”
Octavia had just finished sculling the contents of the large glass, and gave Vinyl a funny look. “What?!” she shouted.
“I said don’t drink it quickly!” Vinyl repeated. “They put too much vodka in it!”
Octavia looked into the empty glass and squinted. Some of Vinyl’s words were getting through to her, but between her sudden tipsiness and the loud music, she wasn’t getting enough. Did…did she say this had vodka in it? But she said it was just orange juice before! Frowning at Vinyl, Octavia said, “Vinyl, why would you lie to me like that?”
“Uh, what?” Vinyl asked, tilting an ear in Octavia’s direction. “Didn’t quite catch that, sorry.”
“Why would you lie to me, Vinyl?”
“Uh, I never-”
“Yes you did! Is it because I didn’t want to come here?”
“What? No, of course not!” Vinyl facehoofed. “Look, I’ll go get you some water, okay?” She put her glass down on the table. “Stay here, and don’t touch my drink, okay? DON’T do it.” She got up from the table once more and wandered back to the bar.
I – I really need that water, Octavia thought as she watched Vinyl disappear into the crowd. I feel somewhat dizzy… Looking downwards, Octavia’s eyes found Vinyl’s drink – lemonade and tequila – sitting there on the table innocently. Is that water? It looks like it. Octavia stretched out a hoof for it before recalling Vinyl telling her not to touch it. But Vinyl didn’t want me drinking it… unless…maybe it is water, and she doesn’t want me to drink hers? But she can just drink the glass she’s getting now, so I am sure she won’t mind if I drink this.
Octavia successfully got down about half of the glass before realising that it wasn’t water and managing to stop drinking. When Vinyl Scratch returned to the table a minute later with an actual glass of water, she found Octavia resting her head on the table. “Octavia? Are you okay?” Vinyl asked.
“Why…” Octavia mumbled.
“Sorry?” Vinyl asked, confused. What had happened whilst she’d been gone?
“Why didn’t you stop me from drinking it?” Octavia moaned, raising her head slowly to look at Vinyl.
“Stop you from drinking w- oh, buck me!” Vinyl swore as she saw her half-empty glass and put two and two together. “Dammit Octavia, I told you not to drink that!”
“I’m sorry…” Octavia croaked, her head still resting on the table. “Can I please have some water now?”
“Drink it slowly,” Vinyl advised as she levitated the water she’d acquired to Octavia. As the Earth pony slowly took sips of it, Vinyl ran a hoof through her soft mane. Oh, Octavia, thought Vinyl, you really are too pretty.
“Thank you, Vinyl,” Octavia said a few minutes later as she finished the water and raised her head from the table. “I’m feeling a bit better now…although my head still feels very…light.”
“Do you want to go home?” Vinyl asked, concern in her voice.
“No, I – I think I should be okay,” Octavia replied. She closed her eyes for a moment. “I do not think that I am a fan of this music.”
Vinyl grimaced. “Yeah, I’ll be honest with you, this isn’t the best music they’ve ever played,” she said. A small smirk appeared on her face a moment later. “Though at least it’s better than that crap that bucking Neon Lights plays.”
“Who?” Octavia asked, frowning.
“He’s a –”
“Did somepony say my name?” a new voice interrupted. A unicorn with a blue-grey coat and a dark mane approached the table. He was wearing a black shirt with a tie, and had a smug expression on his face.
“Neon,” Vinyl deadpanned.
“Thought I’d recognised that sexy voice from across the dance floor,” Neon said, sliding up to Vinyl, who did not look happy.
“…How? The music is too loud,” Vinyl pointed out.
“Is it? Because I reckon I could pick out that beautiful tone of yours from a mile away,” Neon said, leaning closer to Vinyl.
“S-sorry, who are you?” Octavia asked. Between the stranger’s sudden appearance and her tipsiness she was having a hard time keeping track of things.
“The name’s Neon Lights-” began the unicorn.
“-the sleaziest DJ around,” finished Vinyl, a look of distaste on her face. “Also, he steals a lot of my music.”
Not even attempting to deny it, Neon shrugged, before jumping onto Vinyl’s lap. Vinyl did not look happy about this. “Hey, it’s a dog-eat-dog world, baby.” Leaning closer to Vinyl, he said, “So anyway Vinyl, wanna ditch this friend of yours and head to the dance floor?”
At this, Vinyl actually chuckled a little. “No thanks, we’re cool here.”
“Yeah!” said Octavia. “Vinyl and I are rather happy here so… so buck off!”
“But Vinyl, surely you’d rather hang out with me than- wait a second…” Neon Lights said, putting two and two together, “are you two…together?”
Vinyl reached out for Octavia’s hoof and took it in her own. “And we wouldn’t have it any other way,” she said, grinning.
“Yeah! So stop hitting on Vinyl!” Octavia said, taking a moment to focus properly on Neon.
Somewhat stunned, Neon got off Vinyl and to the floor. “You sure you don’t want to have just one dance with me?” he asked, a bit less confident than before. As Vinyl opened her mouth to answer, Octavia interrupted her.
“Like hay she will!” she said. “She’d be worried that you’d drop her the same way you drop the bass!” Vinyl giggled a little at this.
“Y-yeah?” Neon asked. “Well…” He cast an eye over Octavia, trying to think of a comeback. “Seeing as how you’re an Earth pony, I think you’d be a bit too much of a stick-in-the-mud to entertain her successfully!”
“Really?” said Octavia, getting out of her seat, wobbling slightly. “As a unicorn, I think you lack that something magical that she needs!”
“Oh my Celestia, don’t tell me they’re actually doing this…” laughed Vinyl, grinning as the two ponies continued their verbal battle.
“You know what your problem is? You’re too high-class for her,” Neon said, taking note of Octavia’s bow tie. “Maybe you should leave her to me – I can go down low for her,” he said, grinning smugly.
“Or maybe I should do that – I’m sure I could get her to hit a few high notes,” Octavia retorted. By now a few other ponies were paying attention to the verbal sparring of the two ponies. Neon Lights eyed Octavia’s cutie mark.
“I don’t think Vinyl should hang out with you – it’ll only lead to treble.”
“Why would it? Unlike you, I don’t plan to harmony one,” Octavia said, choosing to simply make a musical pun in her haste to reply to Neon Lights.
“I don’t mean to de-bass your comment, but you’re not really in tune with what’s going on, are you?”
“Are you yourself? Because it sounds almost as if you’re calling me a lyre.”
“No need to harp on about it,” Neon snorted.
“Don’t use that tone with me,” Octavia countered. “Your puns are continually falling flat.”
“Oh, well didn’t you get my note?” Neon asked, a smirk upon his face. “There have been some major setbacks with your own punning.” Confusion fell amongst the crowd as the ponies who had been paying attention to the verbal duel wondered what he meant. “Uh, guys? Note? Major?” Neon pointed out. The ponies’ whispering only increased. “Oh, buck you all.”
“Well Neon, it looks like I win our little duel,” said Octavia smugly. As she spoke, Vinyl came up to her and wrapped a hoof around her shoulder. “Looks like Vinyl will be staying with me – not that I needed your permission, of course.”
“Yeah well, you… you…” Neon struggled for a few moments to find a comeback. “You- fight like a cow!”
“How appropriate. You fight like a dairy farmer,” said Octavia. Vinyl had been struggling to hold in her amusement for a while now, but at this, she couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
“Oh man, Neon, you really are such an idiot!” she got out in-between laughs. She was holding onto Octavia for support. In turn, Octavia was smiling happily, but staring off into the distance. Considering how tipsy she was she was rather pleased with her retorts and comebacks to Neon.
Unfortunately, Vinyl’s laughter seemed to be the final straw for Neon Lights. Before Octavia knew what he was doing, he had moved in closer to Vinyl, and started kissing her. Somewhere in the back of Octavia’s mind she noticed that Vinyl didn’t seem to be resisting much, before she pulled him off the unicorn and punched him in the face.
“Get the – the hell out of the club, Neon,” Octavia said as he touched the spot on his face where she had hit him. He grimaced.
“Buck you, you-” He was silenced as Octavia hit him again, knocking him to the ground. There was a gasp amongst the crowd.
“Don’t you try anything,” Octavia slurred, trying to stand on her hind legs but misbalancing and falling back to all fours. “I’ve – I’ve fought ninjas, you know!”
“You’ve what? What the hell does that even mean?” asked Neon angrily as he picked himself up. “For buck’s sake, no need to get possessive, you crazy mare.” His expression became a lot more smug as he added, “Just doin’ what comes naturally, you know? Keeping Vinyl away from fillyfoolers like you.”
The next few moments were a bit hazy for Octavia. All she remembered was baring her teeth at Neon before somehow ending up on top of him, punching him in the muzzle repeatedly. After that, she somehow found herself literally being thrown outside by a bouncer, who muttered something under his breath about alcoholics.
A moment later, Vinyl Scratch trotted out of the club. “Hey Octavia!” she said cheerfully, as though she hadn’t seen the pony for weeks. “Are you okay?”
“Y-yeah,” Octavia mumbled, accepting a hoof from Vinyl in getting up. Between the alcohol and getting thrown out, a wave of tiredness had rushed over her. “I- I’m sorry that I got us thrown out of the club, Vinyl.”
“Seriously? Why?” Vinyl asked, still cheerful. The two mares began to slowly head back to their house.
“Well you…you wanted to take me there and then I just made a mess of things and bucked up… I drank all that stuff, I –I got into that fight with Neon, I got thrown out…”
“Who the buck cares?!” Vinyl shouted a bit too loudly, stopping in the street to wrap both of her forehooves around Octavia and give her a quick squeeze. “That was hilarious!”
“It…was?” Octavia asked, trying to make sense of everything.
“Damn straight! ‘You fight like a dairy farmer’… oh man, Octavia, where do you get all these things from?” Vinyl said, chuckling a little as she spoke.
“So you – you don’t mind that I got us thrown out?” Octavia asked.
“Hell no! And anyway, you were thrown out for beating up that jerk Neon Lights!” Vinyl said, still grinning wildly. “That’s worth getting thrown out for any day!”
“Oh, good,” said Octavia, feeling a little better about herself. “So… do you think tonight was a successful date?”
“Well…” Vinyl said mischievously, slowly directing Octavia to a nearby wall, “I think there’s one more thing I need from this sexy mare before I can call this a great night.”
“Okay?” questioned Octavia, wondering why Vinyl was currently propping her up onto her hind legs and leaning her against the wall. “I think I’m a bit tired… I don’t know whether I can do it, Vinyl…”
“I just want you to do,” began Vinyl, smiling warmly, “whatever the hay you want to.”
For the next few minutes, the only sound that could be heard from the darkened street was that of two lovers kissing each other as tenderly and as caringly as they knew how to.
Chapter Two: Vinyl's Date With Octavia
Lying in her bed, Octavia slowly opened her eyes. And then she immediately shut them as she realised that the sun was shining directly into her eyes. Slowly climbing out of bed, she cursed Celestia for raising the sun so early and preventing her from sleeping in longer. Octavia was normally an early riser, but today she felt like she could have spent half the day lying in bed.
Yawning, Octavia stretched her limbs, briefly standing on her hind legs to do so. As she fell back to four hooves, she noticed something she hadn’t before – she had a slight headache. Oh my, what did Vinyl and I get up to last night? she wondered, smirking nevertheless. Octavia headed out of her room and to the kitchen, where she found Vinyl eating breakfast.
Creeping up behind Vinyl as quietly as she could, Octavia wrapped her hooves around Vinyl and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “Good morning, Vinyl,” she said, giving Vinyl a quick hug before going over to the bench to make her own breakfast.
“Oh, hey Octavia!” said Vinyl, slightly startled by Octavia. “I wasn’t expecting to see you up this early.”
“Why should I stay in bed when I can spend the day with you?” Octavia said, pouring milk into her bowl of muesli.
“Heh, good question,” Vinyl replied. After a brief pause, she asked, “So…how are you feeling?”
“After last night? My head aches somewhat and I am rather hungry, but other than that I am feeling excellent,” Octavia replied as she sat down at the table. “Let me guess – last night you convinced me to have a few alcoholic drinks, leading to my intoxication and subsequent minor case of amnesia?” The smile on her face indicated that she wasn’t annoyed about it; she was just curious about how the date went.
“Uh…sorta,” said Vinyl. “What do you remember of last night?” She smiled a little as she recalled Octavia attacking Neon.
“I remember you convincing me to go to a nightclub where it was incredibly loud,” Octavia said. “You still haven’t changed my opinion on them, by the way. Other than that, all that I can recall is making out with a very cute and sexy DJ.”
Although her smile grew into a grin, anypony who knew Vinyl well enough would have noticed that she was blushing slightly. “Well, that all happened – especially the bit about the sexy DJ,” she said. “But, well…you’ve obviously forgotten one thing…” Vinyl’s eyes shifted slightly and she avoided Octavia’s gaze.
“Yes? What else happened?” Octavia asked. “Don’t tell me that I threw up on you or something horribly embarrassing like that…”
“Weeeellll…” Vinyl said awkwardly, rubbing a hoof against the back of her head, “I reckon you might find it kinda embarrassing I guess?” Her smile was a bit more forced now.
“And?” Octavia said, unfazed. “What was it?”
“…You sure you want to know what it was?”
“Of course I do! From what I can recall our date was rather enjoyable, and so I feel I should be able to recall every aspect of it,” Octavia said as she finished her breakfast. Receiving only silence from Vinyl, she added, “Come on now, out with it!”
“You – well, you sorta beat up a DJ,” said Vinyl reluctantly. “And were kicked out of the club for it.”
“I did what now?” Octavia asked. She sounded amused rather than annoyed or embarrassed as Vinyl had expected.
“So – there was this guy, Neon Lights, right? He’s a bit of a dick; always hitting on me and the other mares at clubs. Pretty arrogant guy, y’know? So last night-”
“- he started hitting on you, and I was drunk and so I attacked him?” Octavia finished, a smirk on her face. “I see nothing wrong with that – sounds like I did everypony a favour.”
“Well, you didn’t exactly attack him at first,” Vinyl said, her casual demeanour returned now that she knew Octavia was fine with the assault she had carried out. In response to Vinyl, Octavia raised an eyebrow, prompting Vinyl to continue. “Before the fight, you two… well, you two sorta had a – how to describe it? A – a pun battle?”
Octavia had been smirking all throughout Vinyl’s summary, but at this her calm expression broke down as she burst out laughing. “I – I did what?!” she got out in-between laughs. “What in Equestria is – why did I do that?!”
“I dunno, but it was pretty hilarious to watch,” Vinyl said, chuckling a little herself. “It sure was funny to watch Neon lose his shit like that.”
“It sounds like it was a good time last night,” Octavia said as her laughing subsided. After a moment of silence, she added, “And speaking of our dates… did you have any plans for tonight?”
“…No,” said Vinyl, grimacing. Octavia noticed it.
“Are you still upset that I wish to take us to a restaurant?” she asked.
“I’m not, like, upset, it’s just…” Vinyl’s voice trailed off before she grimaced again. “I mean, come on, a restaurant? That’s soooo boring!”
“You never know, you might have fun. I did last night,” Octavia pointed out. “Apparently.”
Vinyl rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Look, I’ll come to the restaurant – obviously, since you’ll be there – but don’t be surprised when I end up bored by the whole thing. Imma go lie on the couch for a few hours and listen to music – if I’m still there when you want to get going, just come nudge me or whatever.” The unicorn got up from her seat as she spoke.
“Oh, I’m sure I shall end up doing much more than just nudging you,” Octavia said flirtingly, also getting out of her seat. “I shall be in my room practicing the cello – if you need me for anything, just knock and come in.”
“Right, sounds like a plan,” Vinyl said. Octavia stepped around the table and after a moment of hesitation, gave her a small kiss on the cheek. Not expecting this, Vinyl found herself blushing once more in addition to accidentally letting out a small giggle of joy. Octavia likes me, and she wants to go out again tonight!
“Okay then, so I guess I shall, um, see you later,” Octavia said, avoiding Vinyl’s gaze. She too was blushing.
“Yeah, I’m sure we’ll, y’know, end up talking to each other at some point today, so…yeah,” confirmed Vinyl. “I mean, we just had breakfast – we’ll like, have lunch together or something, yes?”
“Vinyl, we live in the same house,” said Octavia, who was suddenly feeling very giggly and happy. “Who in Equestria schedules a lunch with the pony they live with?”
“Oh, um, yeah. Right.” Vinyl was now feeling embarrassed, but seeing Octavia laugh at her foalish suggestion somehow made her feel like it was worth being embarrassed for that. “Sorry.”
Octavia shook her head and gave out a small laugh. “You’re such a silly pony,” she said, looking into Vinyl’s eyes. For a moment, Vinyl was expecting her to lean in for a proper kiss, but instead Octavia bumped her nose with a hoof. “Talk to you later,” Octavia said, walking off with a smile on her face.
It hadn’t really hit Vinyl yet, but she really was a very lucky pony.
==============
“Vinyl! Are you ready yet?” Octavia called out. “Purse, purse…” she muttered to herself as she cantered through the house. She was in a rush to finish being ready for the date so that she and Vinyl could leave.
“Been ready for ages, babe,” said Vinyl Scratch, who was lying back on the couch with a massive grin on her face.
“Ah, there it is!” Octavia said as she spotted her purse. She put it away and headed to the lounge room. “So does that mean you’re ready to lea- Vinyl. You call that ready?”
“You mean I’m not ready?” With the exception of a cheap blue tie she had thrown on, Vinyl was, as ponies normally are, naked. By comparison, Octavia had thrown on earrings, a new bowtie, and a black dress.
“You’re not ready for the restaurant I booked, that is certain,” Octavia commented. “Could you please at least put on a shirt or something similar?”
“I liked you better when you were kissing me,” Vinyl muttered to herself as she reluctantly rolled off the couch.
“What was that?”
“I said I’m looking forwards to tonight,” Vinyl said, flashing her biggest grin. After a few minutes, she had put on a plain white business shirt which she somehow had lying around; albeit a slightly dirty one. “We good to go, Octavia?”
“Yes, I think I’ve got everything,” said Octavia. The two left the house and after a few minutes of travel, they had arrived at the restaurant Octavia had picked out for their date. As they stood in line waiting to be shown to a table, Octavia couldn’t help but feel giddy. She was on a romantic date! With Vinyl!
It wasn’t long before the two were led to a table by a waiter and given menus. “See? This isn’t so bad, is it, Vinyl?” asked Octavia.
“We only just got here,” pointed out Vinyl.
Ignoring the unicorn, Octavia started reading the menu. “Ooh, it looks as though there are lots of good-looking meals here!” she commented. “Maybe I should order a Daisy and Daffodil Salad… but the Hay and Grass Wrap also looks rather tasty… Oh, but they have spring rolls…” Noticing that Vinyl was also reading a menu, Octavia asked, “Any idea what you’ll order?”
“Yep,” said Vinyl, putting down the menu and grinning. “Chips!”
“…In a five-star restaurant?”
“Well, yeah. I did mention that crappy overpriced expensive food which doesn’t even taste that good as one of the stupid things about restaurants like this, right?”
Although it would have been easy for Octavia to be annoyed at Vinyl, she chose instead not to spoil the unicorn’s evening. “A decent enough choice, I suppose,” she said. “Hmm… I think I’ll settle for the Daisy and Daffodil Salad.”
“So…nice place, is it not?” Octavia asked after the two ponies had ordered.
“It’s okay, I guess,” Vinyl said, a small expression of distaste on her face. “I mean, did you see how expensive those damn chips were?”
“No, how much were they?”
“Twenty bits.”
Unable to find a decent rebuttal for this, Octavia simply grimaced. “Well, let us hope that they are of decent quality then.”
Silence fell between the two mares. Vinyl found herself playing with a knife idly. Octavia was sitting politely at the table, trying not to lose her composure. How come it is that I can speak to Vinyl so easily at home, yet now that we’re on a date – the date I wanted, no less – I find it impossible to find something to speak about? She glanced at Vinyl, still fiddling with the knife. She looks very bored – she must hate me right now.
-and then I’d be all like, “Buck you! Octavia’s mine!” Vinyl thought, giving the knife a small swing at an invisible enemy. And we’d totally get away with the maharajah’s fortune, and spend the rest of our lives making music and making out. She looked up to Octavia, who was staring off into the distance, lost in thought. Man, Octavia’s so amazing. I really shouldn’t have complained about this place – I dragged her out to that nightclub last night, and she didn’t put up nearly as much fuss about it as I did. If this place wasn’t so high class, I’d totally just lean across the table right now and –
“What’s on your mind?” Octavia asked, noticing the unicorn staring at her with a dreamy smile on her face.
“Just thinkin’ about chips,” Vinyl said smoothly. “Man do I love chips; can’t wait ‘til they arrive!”
“Speak of the devil,” said Octavia, pointing to a waiter headed their way.
“Aww yiss, motherbucking chips!” Vinyl exclaimed, rubbing her hooves in anticipation as the bowl was set before her. Octavia’s salad was similarly placed before her. “You realise that you could have gotten like, half the ingredients in that in a meadow, yeah?” Vinyl asked. “For, y’know, free.”
“Whilst I’m not denying that that is true, I think that you’ll find that a restaurant such as this one creates their salads with a quality far above that of the average pony, thus giving it a refined taste and superiority which fully justifies its price,” Octavia said matter-of-factly. Vinyl raised an eyebrow.
“You do know why everypony thinks you’re classier than you are, right?”
“Oh, whatever,” said Octavia, grinning as she stuck a fork into the salad. “Just hurry up and eat your terrible meal.”
“Right after I get some salt,” said Vinyl, getting out of her seat going off to find a salt shaker. Octavia patiently waited for Vinyl, not wanting to start her meal whilst the unicorn was gone. After a few minutes, Vinyl was back. “Right, now let’s dig in!” said Vinyl as she sprinkled copious amounts of salt over her bowl of chips. A moment later, she said, “Wow! These are really good chips! How’s your salad?”
“It’s…edible,” said Octavia hesitantly after a rather loud swallow.
“So… not ‘a quality far above that of everypony’, or whatever you said?” Vinyl asked. She sounded more concerned than teasing.
“It’s not bad, just…I’ve had better,” said Octavia, taking another bite. Vinyl noticed a small shudder as she swallowed this time.
“Here, give me a try,” she said. Without waiting for an answer, the unicorn levitated her fork across the table and impaled some of the salad onto it. When Vinyl placed it in her mouth, it was all she could do not to gag. In spite of how fresh the salad looked, everything tasted stale and dry. Leaves which should have been crunchy were surprisingly mushy, and Vinyl couldn’t find any of the promised daffodils in the bowl. “You call this not bad?!” she asked incredulously. “This salad is a piece of crap!”
“Okay, you are correct – the salad is far from ideal – but what am I to do about it?” Octavia shrugged. “It looks as though this is the standard of the salad in this restaurant and –”
“I thought you said that this was a five-star restaurant?” interrupted Vinyl, eating another chip as she spoke.
“The name of the restaurant is Chez Five Stars,” Octavia said. “I naturally assumed it was. Anyway, as I was saying, I did pay for this meal – or at least I will once we have finished eating – and so I will take what I get.”
Vinyl had been grinning mysteriously from when Octavia mentioned paying for the meal, but her grin grew larger as Octavia finished. “You take what you get, huh?” she repeated.
“…What are you planning, Vinyl?” Octavia asked suspiciously.
“Well, I was just thinking –” Vinyl’s horn glowed as she surrounded both her and Octavia’s meals with her telekinetic field “- that if somepony were to give you their meal, then you’d have to eat it, rather than this crappy salad, yes?” She swapped the bowls around with her magic, looking quite pleased with herself when she was done.
“Don’t be an idiot, Vinyl,” said Octavia. “I made my choice, and I shall stick to it.”
“Look, we both know you’re too stubborn to complain about the salad, so just eat my meal instead, Octavia.” Vinyl’s voice was dead serious as she spoke. “Seriously, just try a chip.”
“…Are you sure you’re okay with this?” Octavia asked, her will starting to crack.
“Hell yeah. The number of times I had to eat out of bins on the street before I started getting gigs…this is like a nostalgia trip for me!”
Octavia had been about to eat a chip, but stopped as Vinyl spoke. “You used to live on the street?” she asked, concerned.
“Of course I didn’t!” Vinyl said. “I’m just trying to get you to eat the damn chips!”
“If you insist.” Octavia sighed before eating the chip she had on her fork. Just as Vinyl had said, it was delicious.
“So, you reckon you’d come here again?” Vinyl asked as she finished off the salad a few minutes later. She had eaten it as quickly as she could whilst still remaining polite so as to get the deed over and done with.
“Well, that salad certainly wasn’t what I was expecting, but these chips are marvellous,” Octavia said. “I take back what I said about this being a terrible meal.”
“Knew you’d end up saying that – Vinyl Scratch always knows what’s best on the menu,” Vinyl said, grinning. “Well, not really, but I know that chips are damn amazing and they should never be passed up.”
“If you insist,” said Octavia, smiling. “But regardless, this place has not been very bad so far, has it?”
“Nah, not really, although I totally called it on the food being overpriced and not that awesome.” Vinyl considered something before continuing. “Well, the chips were nearly worth the money.”
“I can attest to that.” For the next few minutes the two mares returned to silence; Octavia continuing to eat her chips whilst Vinyl was happy to simply lean back in her chair and watch Octavia.
“Hmm… I am feeling rather full, Vinyl,” said Octavia a few minutes later. “Would you like to eat the last of my chips?”
“Don’t mind if I do,” Vinyl replied, grabbing the food with her magic and levitating it to her mouth. “What?” she asked as Octavia stared at her.
“You just ate the last of my chips,” she stated simply.
“Yeah, and? You offered them to me.”
“Yes, but I didn’t expect you to actually take them!” Octavia said. “You were supposed to – oh, I don’t know – insist on my eating them in a show of selflessness?”
“…Why did you want my permission to eat the chips which I gave – sorry, sacrificed to you?” Vinyl questioned.
“I don’t know, it just felt like the right thing to say!”
“…Our dates are really weird,” said Vinyl.
“That they are, Vinyl. Well, since we’ve both finished, shall I go and pay the bill?” Octavia asked, half-getting out of her seat as she spoke.
“You don’t want any dessert?” Vinyl queried, pointing a hoof to a small menu on the table which the two ponies had been disregarding.
“Well, it certainly would not hurt.” Octavia got back into her seat. “What is available?”
“Hmm, let’s see…” Vinyl levitated the menu and started reading through the options presented. “Crap, crap, overpriced, looks nice but will taste like crap… ooh, that looks cool!”
“Yes?” Octavia asked, her curiosity raised. “What was that last one?”
“Sticky date pudding with ice-cream. The ice-cream has dates in it too!”
“That doesn’t sound bad, but what is it about this one that makes it - wait…”
“Cos you see, I was thinking we-”
“Don’t you dare finish that sentence, Vinyl Scratch!”
“-could have multiple dates, y’know?” Vinyl leant back in her chair and grinned at Octavia. In response, the grey Earth pony facehoofed.
“I’m starting to think that the nightclub was the better date,” she muttered. Unfortunately for her, Vinyl heard her.
“How does that work? You can’t fit a nightclub into an ice-cream!” she said, grinning even more. A glare from Octavia wiped it from her face. “Okay, okay, I’ll stop with the date jokes.” Vinyl’s voice trailed off as she continued to speak. “Gee, didn’t see me bitching when you were punning with that jerk Neon…”
“Anyway,” Octavia said, trying to make the conversation slightly more normal, “shall I go and pay the bill?”
“You can try,” said Vinyl, her grin plastered onto her face once more.
“…What do you mean by that, Vinyl? I already told you earlier today, we are not robbing this restaurant. And besides, it wouldn’t even be that wacky, as far as our regular adventures go.”
“Nah, that’s not what I was getting at,” Vinyl said, serious now. “The whole robbing thing was just a joke. No, what I meant was that I’ve already paid the bill.”
“You – what?” Octavia was surprised by this, although in the back of her mind she recognised the generous gesture Vinyl had made. “When did you do that?”
“When I went to get the salt shaker for the chips,” said Vinyl simply.
“But – this is what I suggested for the date! I should be paying!” Octavia wasn’t annoyed; it was mostly surprise at this point.
“Well, too bad for you,” Vinyl said, a smile slowly appearing. “I think you’re damn awesome Octavia, so I’m shouting you dinner. Protest all you like, but you can’t stop me when I’m this damn smitt- I mean, when I’m with someone as awesome as you!” Why do my cheeks feel kinda warm? wondered Vinyl.
Octavia stared at Vinyl for a few seconds, still stunned. She really is amazing. I am very lucky for having found somepony as wonderful as her. “W-well, Vinyl, do not think for a moment that I do not appreciate the gesture – or your feelings,” Octavia said. “As you have paid for both of our meals, would you like me to take you out to a bar, or something similar? The night is still young, and we may as well endeavour to make it last as long as last night did.”
“What, you wish this date was only fifteen minutes long?” Vinyl asked, laughing a little. Octavia winced.
“Is that how long it took for me to be thrown out of the nightclub?” she asked. “Oh Vinyl, I am so sorr-”
“Don’t be,” interrupted Vinyl, still smiling. “We ended up making out a lot, both outside the club and at home. So it all balanced out, more or less!”
Octavia laughed a little at this. “If you insist,” she said. “Shall we head back home then, since our business here is concluded?”
“Spiffing idea, old bean,” said Vinyl, doing her best impression of Octavia. The two mares chuckled as they got out of their seats, and then headed out of the restaurant. Since it would obviously be awkward for the two to hold hooves as they headed home, they didn’t, but every now and then the tail of one would brush the other.
Once the two ponies were back inside their house, they found themselves drawn to Vinyl’s favourite couch, which they lay together on for several minutes before succumbing to more base instincts and kissing each other.
“Thank you for being so wonderful tonight,” whispered Octavia during a brief break. “Taking away my horrible dinner, paying for everything, not complaining even though you didn’t want to be there… if I didn’t know better, I could swear that you were taking me out on a date, not the other way around.”
“Hey, no problem, Octavia. You should know by now I’m crazy about you.” Although Vinyl spoke in her usual casual tone, it was obvious that she was being completely sincere. Octavia said nothing, but adjusted her position slightly and snuggled herself into Vinyl’s chest. After a few more moments of silence, Vinyl spoke again. “So…would you call this thing a success? Our two dates?” She felt Octavia nod. “So…what now?”
“Well…” Octavia said slowly, thinking it over, “we could make this a regular thing – one of us takes the other out on a date somewhere. Alternatively…” Her voice trailed off, the suggestion obvious. Nevertheless, Vinyl followed through on her prompt.
“Alternatively, we start, like, dating for real, yeah? We can be each other’s’ marefriends.”
“Yes, that is the alternative,” confirmed Octavia. After a moment of silence, she said, “I think I prefer the second option.”
“Me too,” said Vinyl simply. The two ponies didn’t say anything, but instead just cuddled for a few minutes, both happy in knowing that they were now in a relationship with somepony who cared about them.
“Wait a moment…” said Octavia, pulling away from Vinyl slightly, “what is that noise? Is it… more ninjas?”
One of Vinyl’s ears moved slightly as she listened out into the darkness. “Oh, crap,” she said, “I think I must have left my music on before we headed out to the restaurant. It’s been playing all this time! Want me to go turn it off?”
“…No,” said Octavia. “I am happy with you simply being here with me. Let’s just – this is our time. Let us not ruin it.”
“You sure you don’t want me to turn it off?”
“No, I have no problems with it playing.” Octavia’s expression became slightly sheepish as she added, “After all…this is now our song.”
Although Vinyl smiled back at her new marefriend, happy with how the events of the past two days had turned out, she couldn’t help but have a new, worrying thought:
Everypony Was Kung Fu Fighting is our song?
Author's Note
How the hay did I manage to stretch out a scene talking about salad for so long?
Anyway, hope everyone enjoyed this; I'm not sure what the next Vinyl and Octavia story will be but I have a few ideas; Happy New Years to those of you who are a day behind Australia and whatnot!
